Syria's vote on constitution: Chance for democracy or trick by Assad?

As dozens more Syrians die in a government crackdown, a few make it over the border to neighboring Turkey. NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel reports.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syrians began voting Sunday on a new constitution that's meant by President Bashar Assad's regime to placate critics but seen by the opposition as a ploy to divert attention from a brutal government crackdown in which thousands have been killed.

Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time (9 p.m. ET), Al Jazeera reported.

Syria has defied international calls to halt attacks on rebel enclaves and at least 89 people were killed nationwide on the eve of the referendum.

Assad presented the revised charter — which allows for at least a theoretical opening of the country's political system — as an effort to placate critics and quell the 11-month uprising against his rule.

The new charter would create a multiparty system in Syria, which has been ruled by the same family dynasty since Assad's father Hafez seized power in a coup in 1963. Such change was unthinkable a year ago.

After 11 months of bloodshed, however, Assad's opponents say the referendum and other promises of reform are not enough and have called for a boycott of the vote.

Assad was roundly criticized Friday at a major international conference on the Syrian crisis in Tunisia, where U.S., European and Arab officials began planning a civilian peacekeeping mission to deploy after the regime falls.

President Barack Obama said Friday of Assad's rule: "It is time for that regime to move on."

Syrian rebels have tried to fight back, but they are losing the battle after being outnumbered and outgunned. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

Syrian Interior Minster Lt. Gen. Mohammed al-Shaar said more than 14,000 voting centers have been set up for more than 14 million eligible voters across the country.

But the suggestion of political reform led by Assad's regime rang hollow in many parts of the country, where government security forces continued their deadly crackdown on rebels seeking to end Assad's rule.

The violence could also prevent the vote taking place nationwide.

An activist in a neighborhood in the central city of Homs that government forces have besieged and shelled daily for one month laughed when asked about the vote.

"How can they ask us to talk about a new constitution when they are shelling our neighborhood?" said Abu Mohammed Ibrahim from the embattled neighborhood of Baba Amr via Skype. "They are hitting us with all types of weapons. What constitution? What referendum?"